The Pied Piper
Once in a town named Hamelin, all the people there were always very cherrful until the day the rats raided Hamelin. Thousands of rats raided Hamelin. There were humongous rats, tiny rats, thin rats and fat rats. There were rats in all the small and enormous houses and of course there were rats in all the shops.
“There are rats on my beautiful table!” complained one man.
“There are rats under my wooden chair!” said another.
“There are rats in my shiny kitchen!” shrieked one woman.
“There are rats crawling into my shirt even though I’m trying to sleep!” screamed another.
“There are rats all over the house!” called a little boy.
“Make these rats go away to where they were before they were here!” called a little girl.
The people of Hamelin went to see the Mayor. “Get rid of these annoying rats!” they said. “What can I do?” said the Mayor. “There are rats in my gigantic house, too. I can’t get rid of them because I cannot handle 1000!” But the people said, “You must make all the rats go away. If you don’t make them go away we will choose another better Mayor.”
Thenafter a few days, a stranger went to see the Mayor. He was dressed in red and yellow. In his hand he carried a flute. “I am the Pied Piper,” said the stranger, “and I can make the rats go away.” The Mayor said, “If you can make these mad rats go away, I will cover you in gold.” “Very well,” said the Pied Piper. “But don’t forget your promise.”
Then the Pied Piper went into the streets of Hamelin and began to play a strange tune. The rats heard the tune and stopped what they were doing. Suddenly, one rat ran after the Pied Piper. Then another rat ran after him, and another. Soon, all the rats ran after the Pied Piper. The Pied Piper stomped towards the river, still playing the strange tune on his flute. The rats followed him and jumped into the river. And that was the end of the rats. The Pied Piper went back to see the Mayor. “The rats have all gone,” he said. “Please give me the gold you promised me.”
“No,” said the Mayor, “I have no money to give you.” “If you don’t give me the money,” said the Pied Piper, “I will play another tune, and you will not be so happy then.” “You can do what you like,” said the Mayor worryingly. So the Pied Piper went out into the streets and began to play another tune. In all the houses and in all the streets, the children stopped playing. Then, one by one, they ran after the Pied Piper. The people of Hamelin called to the children to stop, but the children didn’t hear. They followed the Pied Piper through the streets and over the river. They followed the Pied Piper out of the town and up a mountain. Suddenly, the mountain opened up and the Pied Piper went inside. The children followed him. Inside the mountain was a beautiful land full of trees and flowers and birds. But one little boy had hurt his leg and he couldn’t keep up with the other children. He saw his friends go into the mountain, but he was too late to follow them. The little boy went back to the town and went to see the Mayor. “My friends are inside the mountain with the Pied Piper,” he said. “They will never come back.”
The people of Hamelin were very unhappy. “Where are our children?” they shouted to the Mayor. “You must go and find them.” So the Mayor went to look for the children. He looked for years and years and years. He is still looking for them now.
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